Thursday, July 15, 2010

garden bloggers' bloom day

 No triple-digit days yet, but with lows of 77, highs of  97, and 65 percent  humidity, it's pretty miserable outside. Fortunately, we got some rain in the last two weeks, so some plants aren't too miserable. Make sure to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see blooms from other parts of the world.
Texas sage (cenizo)

This island of Turk's Cap is much perkier this year.
Society Garlic in the vegetable garden
Spider Lily (Hymenocallis 'Tropical Giant')
Texas Bluebells (Lisianthus 'Mariachi Blue') and plumbago with balloon flower (Platycodon 'Miss Tilly') at right
This Torenia 'Purple Moon'  blooms April through October in part shade.
Also blooming today are white gaura, verbena, trailing purple lantana, confetti lantana, blackfoot daisy, Mexican bush sage (salvia leucantha), salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue', and ruellia.

12 comments:

Annie in Austin said...

So July is when Society Garlic blooms? All your blues and purples and whites look cool, Iris, and love the Spider lily!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Unknown said...

Ah, weather in Central Texas. 90's and humidity takes you into the triple digits quickly. Stay cool. Your blooms are lovely.

Iris said...

Annie--My Society Garlic usually starts blooming mid-May and goes until October, as long as it gets some water. It's technically "drought-tolerant", but it does need some water in summer. I love the Spider lily, too--thanks!

Tufa Girl--You're not kidding about the heat index! Thanks for dropping by.

mss @ Zanthan Gardens said...

The white spider lilies are lovely. I've always admired them but never grown them. Good to see that they do well here.

I like the Texas bluebells too. Another plant I haven't tried yet. It's nice browsing through other's gardens on GBBD getting ideas. Best when it's someone else in Austin--then I think I might actually be able to grow it.

Iris said...

mss--I, too, really like browsing Austin gardeners' successes/failures. The spider lilies were given to me by my neighbor, who wasn't sure what they were at the time, about four years ago. We saw bigger versions of the same plant in Northeastern Australia a few years ago, but they seem very hardy here, too.

Rock rose said...

Do those spider lilies need extra water. I think I have seen them by the pond at the WFC. Nice selection of pinks and purples.

TigerlilyRose said...

Very pretty thanks for sharing! I love spider lilies.

Iris said...

Lancashire rose--I haven't found they need extra water--they're very tough. Maybe they'd bloom longer if I watered them more, though.

TigerlilyRose--You're welcome! Yep, they rock.

Kathleen Scott said...

I love your Texas bluebells! And was glad to see your spider lily. I was the beneficiary of an unknown bulb which bloomed a similar flower...eaten by deer before I could snap a photo...am hoping I don't have to wait another year for a bloom.

Iris said...

Kathleen--My spider lilies seem to only bloom once a year, but I love their strappy green foliage, too.

LindaCTG said...

I'm going to have to add more society garlic. I've seen it blooming in some public strips too. Just love it. I think mine got covered by another plant. I'll see if I can rescue them. Love your spider lily too!

Iris said...

Linda--Obviously I'm a fan of this hardy flower. The problem I had with my first few Society Garlics was mistaking their "drought-tolerant" description to mean, "very rarely needs any supplemental water during hot Austin summers." They definitely like a little water!